Toyota had huge hopes for the second-generation Toyota Tundra when it launched the truck in 2007, including plans for two high-performance versions that we'll likely never see, according to sources with knowledge of the trucks.

The current 2007-10 Tundra was designed from the ground up to compete with full-size pickups from Chrysler, Ford and GM. On paper, the story was compelling. The Tundra featured a strong 5.7-liter V-8, could tow up to 10,800 pounds and was available in regular, extended-cab and crew-cab configurations. Toyota was so confident in the strength of its new truck and the American truck market that it invested more than $1 billion to build a dedicated assembly plant in Texas with the capacity to build 200,000 Tundras a year.

Nearly all of the Tundra's manufacturing and sales volume would have come from mainstream models, but Toyota's U.S. management had plans to add two halo trucks around 2009 that could have lifted the Tundra's image in the eyes of street truck and off-road enthusiasts.

The first specialty Tundra was a powerhouse track truck that would have closely resembled the Toyota TRD Tundra Street Concept. Toyota used the 2004-06 Dodge Ram SRT-10 — which could go from 0 to 60 mph in about 5 seconds and ran the quarter-mile in the 13 seconds — as its benchmark.

The single-cab hot rod Tundra would have come from the factory with today's dealer-installed TRD supercharger, boosting the 5.7-liter V-8's 381 horsepower and 401 pounds-feet of torque stock output to a phenomenal 504 hp at and 550 pounds-feet. It also would have featured a lowered suspension and unique 22x10-inch forged rear wheels (an inch wider than the TRD Street Concept's) and custom rear brakes. The wheel design has never been publicly shown.

But the really slick feature on Toyota's planned Dodge Ram SRT-10/Ford SVT Lightning fighter was something called Competition Mode. With the push of a button, the Tundra's vehicle stability control system would be temporarily fully disabled, so you could tear up the track without throttle or brake intervention and without redundant in-cabin warning beeps that tell you when you've lost traction. In comparison, today's Tundra requires three pushes of the stability control button to turn off most, but not all, electronic nannies.

The second specialty Tundra was a long-travel suspension, go-fast off-road pickup made for prerunning desert trails and washes. If that sounds like the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, it should. The two trucks would have competed head-to-head against each other. But Toyota wasn't following Ford's lead. It was coincidentally developing its Baja-style Tundra at the same time Ford was working on the Raptor.

The long-travel Tundra would have differed from the Raptor in one key aspect. Toyota planned to borrow the rear independent suspension from the full-size Toyota Sequoia SUV, which shares most of its platform with the Tundra, so it could have ditched the standard rear live axle and leaf springs. Inspiration for that idea came straight from Toyota's experience sponsoring legendary Baja off-road racer Ivan "the Ironman" Stewart.

Before either Tundra could receive approval, the bottom fell out of the U.S. auto industry as fuel prices spiked and the housing market and economy crumbled. The Tundra came close to meeting its annual sales goals in the first year but has missed badly each year since, suffering from the effects of both the economy and high-profile quality and safety issues. Along with the loss in sales was a loss in confidence that killed both special models for the foreseeable future.

I could imagine the poor reliability and mechanical nightmares this truck would of had if Toyota made it,a high performance truck would send its camshaft through the grill ,firewall,hood !! The stock 5.7 ,Toyota couldnt make that reliable from the get go,this would have been funny as all hell !! Blown transmissions,drive shafts,camshafts,cracking tail gates,rusting frames ,bad ball joints..oh wait,that already happened to the Tundra !!! No wonder why they canned this truck !!

Posted by: Dodge | Mar 29, 2010 10:34:58 AM

Toyota is right to focus on simply selling their truck rather than racing them seeing as how they are failing in the sales category. Racing/go fast is what messed them up in the first place. They marketed their truck as the fastest truck on the market and skimped out on the true, heart of the truck. The underpinnings. Fleet buyers, farmers and construction workers don't care about how fast they go. They care about how strong their truck is, the Trundra's frame is weak and anyone who does reseach knows this.

In all honesty, I don't understand why Toyota left the 3/4 size truck market. They literally OWEND that market. There was no competition to the smaller Tundra, and as we all know, the competition killed the big Tundra. That and under-engineering.

Would be cool to see these 2 trucks to come to life, though.

Posted by: G-Street | Mar 29, 2010 10:39:23 AM

Those Toyota trucks are unstoppable.

I mean that literally.

Posted by: Ted | Mar 29, 2010 11:00:03 AM

If Toyota is trying to repair its flagging image, I suggest this stunt is not very useful.
Concentrate on fixing the pedal/braking/acceleration problems on existing vehicles.
Fixes should also include the frame problems with certain Tundra pick ups.
Stop being GM and go back to being good old reliable Toyota.

Posted by: CoyoteMan | Mar 29, 2010 11:51:00 AM

lol Ted's comment took me a second, but it was quite good to say the least.

Honestly, it's a shame that the Tundra has had so many issues. If done correctly in the first place, Toyota would have had a much stronger standing in full size truck sales. They would probably never beat GM or Ford, but their step into the full size market would have spurred competition, and competition leads to greater technological improvements. Their power numbers and fuel numbers are pretty decent, and who doesn't want to see all trucks improve in both those categories?

I'm sure we'll get the classic 'toyota sucks' then all the other racist garbage we always see in these forums, but there is nothing wrong with technological (and pricing) competition, no matter who it is from.

Posted by: Ted is funny | Mar 29, 2010 12:14:06 PM

Maybe Toyota should get back to making small fuel efficient pickups instead of big Tacomas and massive Tundras .

Posted by: Taylor | Mar 29, 2010 12:36:25 PM

Toyota needs to work on it's credibility in the full size truck market. The pickup truck market is very conservative with no room for error. Toyota has made some big mistakes. Truck guys were hard on Toyota even before an problems arose.
It would be great to see Toyota turn things around and release these trucks. A desert truck with fully independant suspension backed by Ivan "the Ironman" Stewart would be great.

Posted by: Lou | Mar 29, 2010 12:45:02 PM

When your small size truck is outselling your large size truck, that should be a clue that their is a issue.

Posted by: DB | Mar 29, 2010 12:47:38 PM

@DB - your statement has more to do with the direct competition. The Tundra's competition - F150, Sierra, Silverado, Ram are excellent trucks at the top of their game.
The Tacoma's competition is farcical at best. The Ranger is an ancient platform. The Colorado/Canyon twins are rated in the top 10 worse vehicles. The Dakota is an ugly joke, Nissan doesn't really register as a threat to anyone, and the Ridgeline isn't really a truck.
I would bet that the Tacoma does cut into Tundra sales.
Is that why the Detroit 3 have neglected the compact trucks?

Posted by: Lou | Mar 29, 2010 1:49:28 PM

I think the big 3 ignore the pickup class for a number of reasons.

Dodge.. Their Dakota is fugly despite 2 or 3 redesigns. Their V6's were low powered when compared to the competition and despite having a V8 in a lighter truck it still got horrible gas mileage. Add to the fact they were notorious on maintenance and that pretty much sealed the deal for the Dakota.

GM.. Where do I start with the Colorado platform. CHEAP. When a truck is redesigned it usually is an improvement in almost all catergories of the truck it replaced. The GM355T was anything but that. The lack of a V6 for it I am convinced substanially hurt sales. Then you factor in the cost of the truck, features, (or lack thereof) lack of advertising, and safety and quite frankly I am amazed they have not shutdown the Shreveport plant where it was built since these trucks plainly do not sell. GM in any year of the Colorado never equaled or surpassed the final year of S10 sales.

Ford.. I am convinced did a cost analysis and came up with the answer of it simply is not worth the 10's of millions of dollars to invest in a platform that might sell 100K units a year at its peak. So they are perfectly content to go til 2011 and then kill the Ranger when new crash standards take effect that the current Ranger cannot meet.

Ford might get back into the small size pickup in 2012-2013 after they see the midsize market without GM or Dodge, time will tell.. but I truly think that you will have Toyota and Nissan as about the only choice for a small size truck as early as fall of 2011.

Then again with the current political atmosphere.. Ford may just want to save all the nickels it can, since things seem to be changing for the worse for major employers.

My 2 cents.

Posted by: DB | Mar 29, 2010 3:08:19 PM

I hope we never see them! Thier as ugly as the current ones!!

Posted by: Nathan | Mar 29, 2010 3:39:56 PM

Even if these 2 trucks were to be produced and sold there not going to sell well. First is the high cost of gas these days and that the economy is still weak. Second is Ford GM and Dodge basically dominate when it comes to full size pick ups.

@ Kevin Tran - Ford is selling all the Raptors they can build and may produce a Crewcab Raptor.
Dodge does sell more full size than Toyota but Toyota does not make a HD pickup.
Toyota actually outsold Dodge in pickup sales for 2009 (US sales): Quote PUTC "Toyota pickups (Tacoma and Tundra) outsold Chrysler pickups (Ram and Dakota) 191,209 units to 187,958 units in full year sales "
That statistic is very worrysome for Dodge considering they've had a 20+% drop in sales so far this year.
I can see why Toyota Tundra sales have dropped but there seems to be no clear reason for Dodge Ram sales drop. Perhaps it's backlash from the "bailout", and/or fear about Dodge's future, and/or Fiat's future plans, and/or the "I am Ram" fiasco.

Posted by: Lou | Mar 29, 2010 6:54:22 PM

I'll take a toyota with a stuck pedal and drive it 200,000 dependale miles any day over the chevy I had that needed 5 major repairs before it turned 100,000 miles .I was glad to total it at 120,000 miles .

Posted by: matt | Mar 29, 2010 10:08:41 PM

Another reason not mentioned is that Toyota Steadfastly refuses to put a diesel engine in the Tundra. Honestly I'm surprised they sold as many gassers as they did.
These are play toys, fine for pulling a big boat or camper. But they need to spend a lot of their time on 'clean' asphalt. They even have a problem with that as evidenced by the rust issues.
Real trucks have a diesel engine. Tundras don't. 'enough said.

In my personal opinion, its not the Tundras reliability issues, rusting problems, high price, cheap interior, or its weak frame that have caused it to sell so poorly. Its that fact that the truck is ugly as f*ck. I mean come on, every body panel on that thing is a train wreck. If Rosie O'Donnell and Rush Limbaugh had a kid, it would look like the Tundra.

Posted by: James | Mar 30, 2010 10:31:01 AM

A real truck is made with wrenches, not chopsticks.

Posted by: Diesel kicks gas!!!!!! | Mar 30, 2010 12:58:51 PM

well from what ive seen i will be buying a new ram silverado or even F-150 i know to many people that have these trucks and still use them everyday.320,234.5 is what my odometer reads on my 92 ram 150 and the truck was used in the logging woods (which is very hard on a truck no mater who builds it) for 8 years before i got it there is no dout in my mind that dodge builds a good truck. before they put the famous 5.7 liter hemi in their trucks in late 2002 they put 6 years into planning enginering and testing and when they put it into the ram pickup consumers liked it it had lots of power and most of all it was reliable. i dont know how long the new tundra was planed i do know that the tundra name replaced the T-100 trucks around 2000 2001 i think it would be best if toyota trys to fix its problems they have right now before they jump into super bad ass street and off road trucks granted no truck is perfect ford had lots of problems with its twin I-beam front suspension dodge had lots of problems with its transmissions in the 90's and chevy had bad problems with frames in the 90's and rust since the begining of time i know these are not the only problems these manfactures have had but it looks like toyota is experincing them right now and all at once it takes time to work out bugs no truck is perfect each has its own flaws but im true to domestic auto makers and the new ram 1500 looks like my next truck

Posted by: kirby | Mar 30, 2010 10:34:47 PM

Anyone who would consider buying a toyota over ford,gm or dodge truck under toyotas present tundra quality issues fits the "village idiot" catagory quite nicely. you will never see a tundra out do a chevy, dodge or f150.

Posted by: tj | Mar 31, 2010 1:24:12 AM

Im ripping the rear disc brakes off the Tundra and installing them on the Tacoma, and I'm cutting a sunroof hole and putting in a diamond-plate pop-up sunroof, AND I'm sticking the NEW V6 270hp out the 2010 4-Runner into the Tacoma. The Tundra can go to hell where it belongs! At least Nissan made a normal-looking Titan truck.

Posted by: Billy | Mar 31, 2010 8:47:05 AM

@ Diesel kicks gas!!!!!! - The Tundra is made in the USA by "good ol' boys" in Texas. It has a higher American parts content than Chev or Dodge. Ford makes its diesel engine in Mexico. The only thing American in a Dodge HD is the Cummins engine. The rest of the truck is made in Mexico.
GMC - government made crap, brought to you by 60 billion in tax payers money.

Posted by: Dean | Mar 31, 2010 6:17:38 PM

Whatever you say, my friend, Toyota makes the most reliable tucks money can buy, period

Posted by: Sam | Mar 31, 2010 10:59:22 PM

I just don't get all these people slagging the Tundra. My family owns a medium size heavy construction company up here in Canada. We build highways, logging roads, prepare mine sites and do alot of work in the oil patch. Right now we have 19 1/2ton 4x4 pick ups on lease for the guys to drive along with several medium duty service trucks for the heavy hauling. These trucks see the worst of everything and spend most of there lives in the mud and on dirt roads. We have 7 tundras, 6 GMC's and 6 F150's none being older than 2008. Looking at our service records I can tell you that the the f150 have had been into the dealer 9 times for warranty issues and the GMC have been in a whopping 12 times for warranty issues. Some were relatively minor (broken door handle, stuck window) other not so much (blown tranny, broken engine mnts, fried efi) These issues may not cost us much in terms of a repair bill the downtime for the company is huge! How many times have the tundras had problems? ZERO!!! we shop around for our trucks to get the best lease rate and though Ford and Chev have been cheaper i don't think that is worth the hassle of having something that isn't dependable. You may not like the looks of the tundra ( i personally think the f150 is butt ugly) but in terms of dependability it is hard to beat. This may sound like a commercial but i hate to see a great product get beat down by a bunch of internet morons who are stupid to look beyond brand names. I can tell you one thing when the leases are up on the ford and gmc they will be replaced with tundras. Hopefully Toyota will have a diesel option by then.

Posted by: bobthebuilder | Apr 1, 2010 3:41:30 AM

@bobthebuilder - Americans slag the Tundra because it is Japanese. They think anything American is vastly superior to anything else, they think Americans are better than anyone else. If you don't get their point, they just get louder and more obnoxious.

Posted by: restoftheworld | Apr 2, 2010 1:36:29 AM

It makes me laugh when I read about how much the Tundra has wrong with it, I'm on my second one and so far just the gas pedal recall is all the mechanical work that has been done to it I use my truck to haul my sled to the mountains, haul paving stones, gravel and dirt, stuff to the dump and to work every day. So far there have been many people who have pulled up along side of me to test their vehicles against the big bad Tundra, not even one has been close in an off the line race, the rev limiter will prevent any top end wins at around 175 kms per hour, but quick off the line and up to 175 no problem. Just get one and you will see that it's like people with Toyota's have know a secret all the time and now you know it to!

Posted by: Jim 2010 5.7lt Tundra | Jun 24, 2010 7:34:41 PM

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